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But regardless, I've been a fan of Lagunitas for a while now, and their ales often mix wonderfulness with creativity, putting the brewery somewhere between Deschutes and Dogfish Head.

Undercover isn't Lagunitas's best product, but it's worth checking out all the same. This is a strong ale, 9.7% ABV, with a bit too much booziness for it to be an ultra comfortable sipping beer.

It looks good, certainly, with a brown-ish copper color and ever so light tan head. A sniff reveals oak and malts in an almost old-fashioned way. It makes me want to sit on a front porch smoking a pipe in a rocking chair.

Sipping starts off pleasantly enough. Slight hints of caramel waltzes onto your tongue in a perfect harmony with hops, revealing a light bitterness through the back of the mouth. This is all well and good until you swallow, and the booziness rears its ugly head. It leaves an aftertaste, and not a particularly good one at that.

That's too bad, and although it's a risk with high alcoholic beers, better ales tend to hide the booziness better than the Undercover.

Overall it still has a lot of positive aspects, and you should be able to enjoy its finer qualities if you don't care much about booziness.